Spector Lecture
The Annual Stanley Spector Memorial Lecture on East Asian History and Civilization was founded in 1994 to honor Dr. Stanley Spector (1925-1999) for his tremendous contributions to the creation and development of Asian Studies at Washington University. Born in New York City in 1924, Spector received a bachelor's degree in education in 1946 from the City College of New York. He served briefly in the U.S. Naval Reserves during World War II and subsequently earned a doctorate in East Asian history in 1954 from the University of Washington in Seattle, with additional study at the London School of Oriental and African Studies in 1950-51. Spector came to the University in 1955 and served as chair of the Department of Chinese and Japanese (now Asian and Near Eastern languages and literatures) from its inception in 1963 until 1973. He also served as chair of the Committee on Asian Studies and as director of International Studies from 1971 to 1989. He was granted emeritus status in 1989.
Past Spector Lecturers have included:
- Donald Keene (Columbia University)
- William Kirby (Harvard University)
- J. Thomas Rimer (University of Pittsburgh)
- James Crump (University of Michigan)
- Jonathan Spence (Yale University)
- Lucien W. Pye (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
- Carol Gluck (Columbia University)
- Bruce Cumings (University of Chicago)
16th annual lecture, 3/20/09
Susan Naquin, Princeton University
"No Antiques Roadshow! Exploring the Material Culture of Late Imperial China"
15th annual lecture, 4/18/08
Haruo Shirane, Columbia University
“Envisioning The Tale of Genji: Canonization, Popularization, and Visual Culture”
14th annual lecture, 3/2/07
Laura Hein, Northwestern University
"Imagination Without Borders: Feminist Artist Tomiyama Taeko and Social Responsibility"
13th annual lecture, 4/14/06
Dr. Susan Mann, University of California, Davis
"Why Weren't Women a Problem in 19th Century Chinese Thought?"